Decorated fabric



May 5, 1942 G. R. CUNNINGTON I 2,282,169.

DECORA'I'ED FABRIC Filed Aug. 1, 1938 FIGA, 3i 0 s2 H m m w km FIGJI. 42

INVENTOR GEORGE R. CUNNINGTON A TTORNEYS disclosed herein.

Patented May i942- arren STATE-S PATENT names 1 I 2,282,169 I v IDECOBATED FABRIE George R. Cunnington, Grosse- Pointe Park,

Mich assignor to National Automotive Fibres, Erna, Detroit, Mich acorporation of Delaware Application August 1, 1938, Serial No. 222,552

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to a decorated fabric and moreparticularly to one which comprises a ply of flexible sheet-material anda ply of rubberous material permanently bonded thereto. 1

It is an object of the present invention to Provide a decorated materialcomprising a sheet of flexible material, such for example as a suitablefabric having a strip or area of predetermined outline of rubberousmaterial attached to th dress face of said flexible material.

It is a further object of the present invention to decorate a fabric, orother flexible material,,

- material and simultaneously imparting a decorative effect to theexposed face of the rubberous material. 1

It is a further object of the present invention to provide decoratedtrim panels in which thin strips or areas of rubberous material arepermanently bonded to the exposed face of the trim fabric. I

It is a further object of the present invention to form decoratedmaterial by the novel steps Other objects of the invention will beapparent as the description proceeds and when taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawing, and wherein Fig. 1 is a view showing theinitial or preliminary arrangement of parts employed in decorating anarea of fabric;

Fig. 2 is a view corresponding to Fig. '1 in which the die member hasbeen moved into engagement with the material;

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the trim panel manufactured according to thepresent invention;

Fig. 4 is a section indicating the initial or preliminary relationshipof parts in the manufacture of trim panels according to the presentinvention;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section illustrating the operation of thedie member in trim panel decoration;

Figs. 5 to 9, inclusive, are detailed elevations illustrating variousdecorative eflects to be obtained by the present invention;

Fig. is a section on the line Iii-l0, Fig. 9;

Fig. 12 is a view of the elements shown in Fig. 11 after embossing andvulcanizing.

In my copending application Serial No. 210,034, filed May 25, 1938, Ihave disclosed a decorated fabric in which a decorative efiect isimparted claimed in the application above identified, al-- though itemploys the same materials; namely,

a strip or area of rubberous material in combination with the fabric orother flexible material to be decorated.

I have illustrated the present invention both as applied to decoratingsheet material, as for example a fabric, and as applied to decoratingthe upholstery fabric of an automotive trim panel. It will be apparentthat in its broadest aspects this invention has a wide field ofapplication, and in fact the field is limited only by the field ofusefulness of the various fabrics or other materials which may be thusdecorated. i have illustrated a decorated fabric in combination with atrim panel only as an illustration of one of the many applications ofthe present invention.

Referring now'to Figs. 1 and 2, I provide a flat table III which may beof any suitable material and may, for example, be formed of metal. Injuxtaposition to the table I0, I provide a die member provided with aplurality of recesses l2 formed in-its generally flat forward face l3and provided at its edges or around its periphery Fig. 11 is afragmentary section illustrating I with short .knife edges l4. ll; haveillustrated the 'die member II as attached to a suitable supportl5 whichmay take any convenient form.

The die member H is provided with suitable means for heating the same.These means may take any well known form, for example, electricresistance elements or, for example, the the II may be provided with acentral conduit for the passage of steam or other heating fluid. Theparticular means for heating the die element form a part of the presentinvention, and in order to simplify the disclosure and because suchheating means are familiar to those skilled in the art, none areillustrated.

In the manufacture of my improved decorated material, I place a sheet ofmaterial i6 on the table It. This sheet of material may be either a pilefabric or a fabric of any other desired dicated the material it as afabric.

characteristics, or it may beartiiicial leather, or variouscompositions. Perhaps the widest field of application of the presentinvention is to use a flexible sheet material, but it w.ill beunderstood that decorations of the nature disclosed herein maybeimparted to various other materials, such, for example, as substantiallyrigid 'sheet material or, under proper circumstances,

to solid oblects- For purposes of illustration, however, I have in- Inupholstery fabric ordinarily the fabric has a dress face which isintended to. be exposed in the upholstered article, and a reverse face.According to the teachings of the present invention, the dress face ofthe fabric, if the fabric is such that it has a dress fade, orinanyevent the face of the material which is to be exposed, is placedupwardly. Over this exposed or dress face of' the fabric is, I place apiece of rubberous material ll of sufiicient area and shape to cover thedesign tobe vulcanized and preferably to extend slightly therebeyond.This strip may be very varied between wide limits. The limiting factorsnormally as will further appear as the description proceeds are: Thematerial must be of sufficient'thickness to permit complete filling ofthe recesses l2 in the die member; and the material should not be ofexcessive thickness due to cost restrictions. It may be stated at ousmaterial i? may be selected from a large number of rubber stocks ofvarious grades and colors, the requirements being that it be of a goodgrade of material, and preferably should 1 be a quick curingcomposition.

With the parts assembled in. the, relationship I illustrated in Fig. 1,the rubberous material and the die member H are brought into engagement1 as by elevating the table it or depressing the support l5, or both.The die it is heated to a temperature sufiicient to cure the rubberousmaterial I! in a relatively brief interval and atthe same time to insurevulcanization between the matej rial l1 and the fabric it. Asillustrated in Fig. 2,

the knife edges M substantially sever the proj jecting portions of thestrip or area 'of rubberous material. The application of heat andpressure f causes the 'ruberous. material l1 between the knife 3 edgesto mold and flow, as indicated, so as to completely fill the recesses I2of the diememher; The pressure is sufllciently greatand the face of thedie member H and the rubberous material I1 imparts a glossy finish tothe exposed The application face of the rubberous material. of heat andpressure, as above stated, is contained for suflicient time to insuresubstantial this time that the rubberthin, as, for example, on the orderof .030 inch. However, as will be readily understood, the thickness ofthe ply of rubberous material Il may be heat is chosen so that thecontact between the v vulcanization between the rubberous material andthe fabric between the knife edges It.

The portions 18 of the rubberous material which are substantiallysevered by the knife.

edges M are not vulcanized to the fabric since there is no substantialapplication of heat or pressure to the-material. when the die is removedfrom the rubberous material the strips l8 may bedrawn away from,

the decorative design and due to the action of the knifeedges 14 thiswill leave the decorative del sign with a clear-cut ruled boundary.

As a result of this,

., decorated.

involves removing the padding material in long it will be evident thatthe action of the die member will force the rubberous material-downintov the pile, the pile will be forced-into the rubberous material, orforced down. In either case the pile adjacent to the rubberous materialis not affected and the result of this, as will be apparent withoutillustration, will be that the pile will extend upwardly above the planeof the rubberous material. This imparts a richness to the decoratedfabric and creates the illusion of padding back of the fabric.

In Fig. 3 I have illustrated an automotive trim panel 20 of conventionaldesign which is' covered with an upholstery fabric 21, the fabric beingdecorated by vertical strips 22 of rubberous material.

The trim panel 20 illustrated in Fig. 3 is producedby a method verysimilar to that illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. However, the method isfurther illustrated in detail in Figs. 4 and 5., In these figures, apanel board 23' which may be of any suitable composition-is precut.tothe form shown in Fig. 3. The face of this panel board which is to beexposed in use may-be covered if desired with padding material 26 whichmay take the form of cotton, blue wadding or any suitable resilient andpreferably fibrous padding material. The'padding material is removedfrom areas of the panel board corresponding to the areas of theupholstery fabric which are to be In the illustrated embodiment thisstrips, as indicated by the numeral25 in Fig. 4, which corresponds tothe strips 22. to be applied to the padding material, This paddingmaterial may be removed by any convenient method, or inthe event thepadding material is of a selfsustaining form, such for example as bluewadding, the padding material may be precut to cover the separated areasshownin Fig. 3.

ing thedecorated upholstery trim panel is to I place upholstery fabric27, which is preferably precut to a form corresponding to the form ofthe panel board, over the padding material 26 and reflecting the edges25' about the edges of thepanel board. The edges 25' are thenpermanently secured to the back of the panel board 'as by a suitableadhesive-by tacking or the like.

. Following this, strips or areas of rubberous material 2 8 are placedon the exposed face of the upholstery material 21 in conformity with theareas to be decorated and hence in conformity with the areas from whichpadding material has been removed. For convenience in handling, ifdesired, this rubberous material may v be temporarily attached to thefabric as by separated spots of adhesive, or the like. This step may, ofcourse, be omitted if desired. The panel board. and assembled elementsare placed on a fiat table 29 indicated in Fig. 5, which is in juxta- Inthe event that the fabric |6 to whichthe rubberous material I1 isapplied is a 'pile fabric,

position to a heated die element 3!) corresponding in all respects tothe die member II shown in Fig. 1. As previouslydescribed, the diemember may be heated by any convenient means. The table 29and support 3!for the diejmembe'r 30v are caused to approach with the result that thedie 30 is forced against the rubberous mae trasting to the color of thefabric.

to obtain rubberous material for this purpose in tinued for a suiiicienttime to cure the rubberous material 28 andto cause vulcanization betweenthe rubberous materialand the fabric 21. Due to the fact that therubberous material 28'is in surface'eontact with the die over its entireface, the surface of the strip 28 will be glazed so as to have, whencompleted, an attractive glossy appearance.

As in the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1-

and 2, the projecting substantially severed edge portions are notvulcanized to the fabric and may be removed with the result that a veryaccurately ruled edge is formed along the decorative rubberous material.

If the material 26 previously referred to, is also a rubberouscomposition, the application of heat and pressure will be continued longenough to insure vulcanization between the fabric and the material 26.If a suitable adhesive is used, the application of heatand pressure bythe die member 30 need not be so long continued.

In both of, the embodiments just described it will be understood thatthe rubberous material may take any desired shape or form. Forsimplicity, I have illustrated merely straight parallel strips ofmaterial. However, it will be appreciated that the die members may beformed into any predetermined design so that the finished article maypresent various geometrical forms, pictures or indicia. It is desired toemphasize at this time the extreme flexibility of the method disclosed.In the past, decorative designs-have been imparted to fabric by sewingor the like. The cost of sewing fabric to decorative designs isprohibitive unless the sewing is a limited to straight line jobs.According to the teachings of the present invention the design impartedto thefabric may be of any size and shape, either regular or irregular,and the expense in time consumed in its manufacture will not thus beincreased.

I have found that very attractive results are obtained when a rubberousmaterial which is attached to the exposed face of the fabric is of acolor either harmonizing with or strongly con- It is possiblepractically every color, and itis also possible to obtain variouscombinations of colors, such for example as a mottled rubber.

Due to the fact that according to the teachings of the present inventionthe rubberous material is forced firmly into recesses inthe die member,it will be apparent that the decoration will be characterized byextremely sharp delineations.

In Figs. 11 and 12 I'have illustrated a somewhat difierent embodiment ofmy invention which offers important advantages in economy. Since in thepresent invention the rubberous material is exposed to view and itselfformsprimarily a decorative element, it is necessary that desired toobtain relatively large ridges in the completed design it would,according to the embodiments of the invention shown. in Figs. 1 and 4,be necessary to employ a relatively thick ply of rubberous material. Ihave found that equivalent results may be obtained by the followingmethod: A relatively thick ply 40 of rubberous material may bepositioned against the rear surface of a fabric or the like 4|, and arelatively thin ply 42 of high grade rubberous material may be placedagainst the exposed or dress face of the fabric 4|. The rubberousmaterials 40 and 42 will be preformed into areas corresponding to thedecorative design desired and will be placed in registering relationrelative to the fabric 40.

In order to increase the economy of the embodiment now being described,the rubberous material 40 may, if desired, contain a substantialquantity of filler. This filler may be of any suitable material, andsimply by way of example I call attention to the fact that certainfibrous materials may advantageously be employed.

The parts assembled as shown in Fig. 11 may then be placed between atable and die exactly as shown in Fig. 1. The table and die will then bemoved together to cause deformation of the exposed rubberous face in thepredetermined design. This will result in a deformation of the parts, asbest indicated in Fig. 12, where it will be observed that a substantialportion of the molding of the rubber takes place in the backing element40 with the result that the exposed area of rubberous material 42 may beextremely thin. In this last embodiment, it may be desirable to applyheat to the material being acted upon si multaneously from the die andfrom the table member.

By way of example, I have found that entirely satisfactory results maybeobtained by employing a facing area of rubberousv material of athickness of .010 inch in combination with a back ply of rubberousmaterial having a thickness of .030 inch. Where a relatively expensiverubberous material is employed for the facing areas, .the

economy resulting from this arrangement is this rubberous material be ofa good grade. If

obvious.

In Figs. 6 to 10 I have illustrated a number of different designs merelyfor the purpose of emphasizing the flexibility of my improved method.InFig. 6 I have shown a fragment of fabric 60 to which is vulcanized astrip 6| of rubberous material having a plurality of ridges orelevations 62 spaced by corresponding grooves or elevations 63. Thisfigure illustrates the decorative appearance of the straight ruled edges63 of the rubberous strip resulting from the present process.

In Fig. 7 I have illustrated a fragment of fabric 70 which has astrip ofrubberous material "H vulcanized thereto. The strip H is bounded at its'edges by ridges or ribs l2 separated by a generally flat area 73. Thedecorative effect is further enhanced by a plurality of circular ridgesor risers it formed to project above the flat surface 13.

In Fig. 8 I have illustrated a fragment of on;

ric to which a strip of rubberous material 8! is vulcanized. The strip8! has at its edges'upstanding ribs 32, a generally flat circular area83 and circular upstanding rib 84, the circular rib 04 being connectedto. the edge ribs 82 by diagonal ribs 85.

In Fig. 91 have illustrated a portion of fabric having a strip ofrubberous material 9| vulcanized thereto. The strip of rubberousmaterial 9| has at itsedges upstanding ribs 92 and intermediate itsedges a multiplicity of sharp small projections as indicated at 93.

' In the designs illustrated in Figs. 6 to 9, the

' .exposed face of the rubberous material is in all instances smooth andlossy.

I have found that decorative materials formed according to the teachingsof the present invention exhibits attractive decorative effects, and inaddition, is characterized by the fact that the rubberous material isnot easily soiled and, when soiled, may be readily cleaned.

The present disclosed method of decorating material, due to itsflexibility, lends itself to schemes of decoration which have hithertobeen impractical. In' the case of the decorated fabrics made accordingto the process illustrated in Figs.

, 1 and 2, thefabrics may be employed for'substantially any purpose.Among the many possible applications of this fabric are upholsteryfabric for automobile cushions, covers for cushions, covering fabric forluggage, draperies, and many others which will sug'gest'themselves .tothose skilled in the art. v

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness andunderstanding only,,and

no unnecessary limitation should be understood therefrom, but theappended claims should be construed as broadly as permissible in view ofthe prior art. 4 What I claim as my invention is: 1

l. The method of imparting a decorative eifect c to'a limited area of afabric which comprises: applying a relatively thick ply of uncuredrubber to the rear surface of said fabric opposite to the limited areato be decorated, applying a relatively thin ply; of uncured rubber tothe front surface.

of said fabric over the limited areato be decorated and in registrywith'said relatively thick ply of uncured rubber, subjecting said rubberto vulcanizing temperatures while applying pressure at a plurality ofclosely'spaced zones to the front face of said relatively thin ply ofrubber suflicient to displace the rubber of said relatively thickplyinto raised risers intermediate the zones of pressure applicationthereby formingthe fabric be decorated and in registry with saidrelatively thick ply of uncured rubber, subjecting said rubber'tovulcanizing temperatures whilemolding the composite assembly with adie having a plurality of adjacent, closely spaced, shallow recessesfrom the front face thereof to mold the rubber of said relatively thickply into risers, the said risers and their cover of fabric and thinrubber filling the shallow recesses of said die, thereby forming thefabric and thin ply of rubber into a relief design, and maintaining saidpressure until vulcanization of said rubber is substantially effected.-

GEORGE R.-CUNNINGTON.

